Back from the Jungle

I'm back! I return with verdant memories and countless bug bites. The jungle was an incredible experience, deserving far greater depth of description than I could hope to give. So I'll go ahead and abuse the exchange rate between pictures and words (a picture is worth a thousand words) to skimp on my duties as blog writer. Enjoy!

This is the view from the river we floated down to reach our lodge. We ended up swimming in this same piranha infested water-- and I proudly emerged with all of my fingers

That would be a tarantula. We saw several, and our guide (who I otherwise loved)  seemed to have an uncanny knack for finding them.

These cute hipo/ beaver/ water pig creatures were on the shore of the river. They look slightly less noble on land, where they tend to loaf about.

We saw so many crazy bugs!  

Dear lord, they gave me a machete. What were they thinking?!? This is the walking palm. it creates a cage-like set of roots that diverge and enter the ground. When water levels rise, they are covered and any gringos trapped inside are in trouble

I'll never tire of sunsets over water.

Our guide showed us a leaf that, when ground with water, creates the perfect pigment for warding of evil jungle spirits. The spirits he described lead careless travelers deep into the unfamiliar jungle then vanish, leaving them lost. This was a bit of a disconcerting tale coming from the man who had led us deep into the unfamiliar jungle. Fortunately, my face paint must have worked cause he stuck around.

More interesting bugs!

And I'm still not tired of beautiful sunsets over the water!

This huge tree is apparently being slowly killed by the vines that strangle it. The gringos probably don't help either.

There you have it! The Jungle trip! Next up: Machu Pichu! For which I resolve to do some actual writing!